Dustin Poirier’s final UFC fight was set up to give him the perfect final outing inside the Octagon.
While Poirier still leaves behind an incredible career, he didn’t get to go out with one more win in front of his home fans in Louisiana.
Max Holloway defeated Poirier over five rounds to successfully defend the BMF title and finally record a win over ‘The Diamond’ in their trilogy.
The durability of both men was on show, making it another fitting instalment in the history of the BMF belt.
There was always going to be a lot of respect between the two competitors, with Poirier sharing an emotional moment with Holloway’s son in the aftermath, but that doesn’t mean that the former interim champion wasn’t disappointed.
Dustin Poirier says Max Holloway admitted to him that he was ‘out’ after being hurt in the second round
The three judges at cage-side for the main event of UFC 318 all scored the fight in Max Holloway’s favor, recording a 48-47 and two 49-46 cards.
When Dustin Poirier sat down in the post-fight press conference to tie the bow on his career, he spoke about being surprised by the final result.
He believed that the fight could have been tied at 2-2 heading into the final round but this wasn’t the case.
“Mike Brown checked the scorecards when we got to the locker room and I think the judges gave me different rounds so I don’t know,” Poirier said. “I think all the judges gave him the second round. I thought I almost had him out.”
The second round proved to be one of the best of the year, as both men seemingly came close to finishing each other.
Poirier weathered a storm from Holloway before hurting him with a combination, jumping for a guillotine choke and raining down devastating elbows.
He was unable to get the finish in the closing seconds of the round, though at the press conference, ‘The Diamond’ did reveal that Holloway told him the outcome could have been very different if there had been a little bit more time left.
“He hurt me too, but I thought my shot, when I followed up with elbows, I was cracking him. He told me in the medical tent, he said, ‘Man, you had me out’. We couldn’t hear the bell so it just, being in the fight, it felt a lot closer than that.
“When I heard the judges, 49-whatever, I was like, ‘No way’. It was closer than that but like the man says, it is what it is.”
Dustin Poirier doesn’t regret jumping the guillotine choke one final time in his career
Dustin Poirier’s final UFC fight wouldn’t have felt complete if there wasn’t a moment where he jumped for a guillotine choke to try and finally record a win via his favorite technique.
After Holloway fell to his knees with just over 10 seconds left in the second round, Poirier immediately attempted to wrap up his neck.
While the choke looked close at one point, ‘Blessed’ survived which may not have been the case if his opponent had chosen to go straight to ground and pound instead.
Unsurprisingly, Poirier had no regrets about doing one last ‘gilly’ jump inside the Octagon.
“Ah… nah. Never,” Poirier reflected at the post-fight press conference. “One last one and damn, I really thought that was going to be the one, man. I had him hurt but he rolled to his back and I just couldn’t control it.”